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Daily Bradlo 2/3/2019

Good Morning!
While this is a political newsletter, it would be appropriate to note that the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 to win their sixth Super Bowl last night.

Here are the top three stories for your Monday:

1: Northam Getting Ready to Resign?

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam called an emergency meeting of senior staff, including staff members to Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, to discuss resigning from office, The New York Times reports.

Northam faced national backlash after a photo surfaced of a man wearing blackface standing next to another person in a Ku Klux Klan robe in is medical school yearbook, it was alleged that Northam was one of the two men.

The news led to many Democratic officials, including the state’s two Democratic senators, to call for Northam to resign. Both chambers of Virginia’s House of Delegates are scheduled to meet this morning and may vote to condemn Northam.

The New York Times notes that as of Sunday night, Fairfax has not been notified that Northam plans to step down.

2: 4,000 Troops Heading to the Border

The Pentagon announced on Sunday that roughly 4,000 additional U.S. troops will be sent to the border to assist Customs and Border Patrol operations.

A Defense Department statement said the troops will help will placement of razor wire and surveillance operations. Last week, Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said the Defense Department would send “several thousand” troops to the border.

This comes as Trump has down played the chances of striking a deal in Congress that would provide funding for a border wall and has indicated he may declare a national emergency which open up Defense Department funding to build the wall.

3: Trump Wants to Keep Troops in Iraq to Monitor Syria, Iran

In a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS’ “Face The Nation” President Trump said he wants to maintain a presence in Iraq to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) does not make a resurgence, and to ensure that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons:

“I want to be able to watch Iran. We’re going to keep watching and we’re going to keep seeing and if there’s trouble, if somebody is looking to do nuclear weapons or other things, we’re going to know it before they do.”

The New York Times reports that the United States has been secretly negotiating with Iraqi officials to keep troops in the country.

President Trump said the U.S. would keep a number of Special Operations teams in Iraq to carry out strikes on ISIS and assist Kurdish fighters.